info on celendine plants

Has anyone bought celendine seed , and are they hard to germinate ? or am I better buying the plants , if so can anyone recomend a nursery which stocks a varied collection please maybe in yorkshire ? Thankyou in advance for any feedback X

Think twice and then think three times before you introduce such an invasive plant into your garden. Yes, they are pretty and cheerful but they spread, but at least they are a discreet weed for most of the year.

If you are hell-bent on acquiring some, just ask about and someone will give you some, and good riddance.

I don't think they can be difficult to germinate or they wouldn't be spreading around my garden so quickly. But maybe those little corms get in with other weeds and taken to the compost heap. I assume that as time goes on all those fancy bronze and variegated ones seed back to the original. They aren't a trouble to me but if I was a neat and tidy gardener or an alpine enthusiast the ywould be a pain.

There are two quite different plants called celandine, and they are from two quite distinct genuses. Lesser celandine (Ranunculus ficaria - a member of the buttercup family) is a nasty little thug, spreading like mad in lawns via seed and bullets. I am still fighting a battle with it in MIL's garden. this is year 3 and I have just zapped tiny shoots, and will do so weekly for teh next two months. I will not let a single one flower, so that no more seed is produced. I am nearly there in getting rid of it, maybe this year, maybe next.

The other is the Greater Celandine, Chelidonium majus, a member of the poppy family. It is grown as a herbal / homeopathic plant in wild gardens, and spreads readily by seed like any poppy, but does not invade lawns like the lesser Celandine, and I bet there are times when it wishes it had a different common name!!!

A GREAT MANY THANKS to everyone who has answered to my questions about Celendines , now I know the differances I think it must be thought over several times as Welsh onion says!

What actualy set me off was seeing several differant ones on Gardeners World , Thought they might fill a few gaps at the begining of the year !

I also think it is true they revert back to the original specialy when planted in the shade as last year I did buy a ' C , Brazen Hussy ' Planted it in the shade under a Holly tree . It was lovely with the dark brown / purple leaves, but even though it has come back this year its a miserable thing with the green leaf. The one Berghill described sounds nice , so I will look out for this in the nurseries,

Our Brazen Hussy is in fairly deep shade and it has stayed bronze and flowered ok for quite a few years. They are funny in some ways, we had a good collection of the different forms at one stage, but all but that one and the cream one disappeared. Wish I could say the same for the ordinary one.